Chicago’s Downtown Hotels Posted Winning Summer Revenues

Chicago is taking fire from President Donald Trump, but visitors don’t seem to mind.

Hotels in the Central Business District booked nearly 3.6 million room nights from June through August — a 4.3 percent gain over last summer that also topped the pre-pandemic high in 2019, according to Choose Chicago. The strong showing helped generate a record $949 million in hotel revenue for the summer, a 0.8 percent uptick from last year, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Choose Chicago CEO Kristen Reynolds credited the record-shattering summer with a surge in regional travelers, which offset weaker international travel.

Domestic tourism carried the season, with suburbanites and visitors within a five-hour drive filling rooms. International travel fell 3 percent year-over-year, dampened by Trump’s hardline immigration and trade policies, while his repeated threats of federal intervention in Chicago haven’t boosted the city’s image abroad. Still, Reynolds said the drive market momentum is reshaping the city’s tourism pitch.

The four biggest hotel weekends in city history all happened this summer: Blackpink’s Soldier Field concert and a Nike youth tournament at McCormick Place led the pack with 92,643 room nights in July. Pride Fest, Lollapalooza and Labor Day weekend each topped 91,000. Notably absent was NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race, which is on pause until at least 2027.

Even with the high occupancy and revenue, hotel owners aren’t celebrating like it’s 2019. Rising labor and construction costs, plus heavier property tax bills, have eaten into margins. Michael Jacobson, who leads the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, warned that operators “cannot rest on recent successes” given ongoing cost pressures and economic uncertainty.

The city drew 55.3 million visitors last year, up 6.3 percent from 2023, but still shy of the 61.6 million peak in 2019. Events are a key draw — and with Taylor Swift skipping this year and the Democratic National Convention still ahead in 2028, hotels are banking on a steady pipeline of sports, music and cultural festivals to keep the rooms full.

— Eric Weilbacher